Ascent of Balsam Mountain on 2012-02-06

Ascent Trip Report

Started at McKinley Hollow. Bright beautiful day. Very little ice or snow on the lower elevations, ice only in center of trail on ridge line, and ice and compacted snow on summit, but only couple of inches deep. Barebooted all the way. Great day to really take in the surroundng terrain. Water still running in the streams, saw no one else on the trail. A few blowdowns and washouts early on on the trail, but all easily navigable - some hardy souls were working on a new footbridge across the McKinley Brook near the trailhead - I crossed on a few logs that were placed across the sream - looks like a re-route is coming. The third crossing of the brook 0.1 after the shelter is a sharp left at a tree trunk where stone steps go down to the brook and the trail on the opposite side looks like it actually goes back along the brook but swings around to the northwest again. This crossing is "masked" due to all the blow down and washout.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

1875 ft / 572 m

Distance:

5.5 mi / 8.9 km

Route:

Olivera-Mapledale Trail + Pine Hill West Branch

Trailhead:

McKinley Hollow PA 1725 ft / 525 m

Quality:

4 (on a subjective 1-10 scale)

Route Conditions:

Maintained Trail

Weather:

Cool, Calm, Clear

Ascent Statistics

Time Up:

2 Hours 14 Minutes

Descent Statistics

Time Down:

1 Hours 31 Minutes

GPS Data for Ascent/Trip

GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/longPeaks: climbed and unclimbed by Matt SedlakClick Here for a Full Screen MapNote: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO resposibility or liability from use of this data.